On my way home to VT. It’s Erev Yom Kippur.. the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the jewish calendar.. This is the time we all think about the previous year and consider how we spent our time. One of the main things we do is consider anyone we wronged in the past year.  If you are reading this.. and I have wronged you in any way.. I am sorry .. very sorry (not just saying that)

 

There’s a prayer we say called the Al Chet.. It  enumerates all the ways we may have screwed up last year (we Jews are big enumerator)

Many of of them are everyday things.. . I won’t share my check marks.. but i definitely have work to do

For the sin which we have committed before You under duress or willingly.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by hard-heartedness.

For the sin which we have committed before You inadvertently.

And for the sin which we have committed before You with an utterance of the lips.

For the sin which we have committed before You with immorality.

And for the sin which we have committed before You openly or secretly.

For the sin which we have committed before You with knowledge and with deceit.

And for the sin which we have committed before You through speech.

For the sin which we have committed before You by deceiving a fellowman.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by improper thoughts.

For the sin which we have committed before You by a gathering of lewdness.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by verbal [insincere] confession.

For the sin which we have committed before You by disrespect for parents and teachers.

And for the sin which we have committed before You intentionally or unintentionally.

For the sin which we have committed before You by using coercion.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by  desecrating the Divine Name.

For the sin which we have committed before You by impurity of  speech.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by foolish  talk.

For the sin which we have committed before You with the evil  inclination.

And for the sin which we have committed before You knowingly or unknowingly.

For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us. 

For the sin which we have committed before You by false denial and lying.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a bribe-taking or a bribe-giving hand.

For the sin which we have committed before You by scoffing.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by evil talk  [about another].

For the sin which we have committed before You in business  dealings.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by eating  and drinking.

For the sin which we have committed before You by [taking or  giving] interest and by usury.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a haughty demeanor.

For the sin which we have committed before You by the prattle of our lips.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a glance of the eye.

For the sin which we have committed before You with proud looks.

And for the sin which we have committed before You with impudence.

 For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us. 

For the sin which we have committed before You by casting off the yoke [of Heaven].

And for the sin which we have committed before You in passing judgment.

For the sin which we have committed before You by scheming against a fellowman.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a begrudging eye.

For the sin which we have committed before You by frivolity.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by obduracy.

For the sin which we have committed before You by running to do evil.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by tale-bearing.

For the sin which we have committed before You by swearing in vain.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by causeless hatred.

For the sin which we have committed before You by embezzlement.

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a confused heart.

 For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a burnt-offering.

And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a sin-offering.

And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a varying offering [according to one’s means].

And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a guilt-offering for a certain or doubtful trespass.

 

(Ok.. they get  little extreme from this point on.. but hey.. it’s hundreds of years old)

And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of lashing for rebelliousness.

And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of forty lashes.

And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of death by the hand of Heaven.

And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of excision and childlessness.

And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of the four forms of capital punishment executed by the Court: stoning, burning, decapitation and strangulation.

 

ok.. i wish you all a healthy and thoughtful new year..

nite all, nite sam

-me

ok.. actually.. white tape.. I’m down in RTP at a work meeting.. good friends, very hard work..

by the end of the day I was feeling pretty wrapped up in it..

 

 

Luckily, we all had time to go out to cauliflower together afterwards

still have several hours of work..a t its already 11pm..

I’m beat !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Great day…

last night Diane and I met freind Ellen at Higher Ground around 9:30 to see ‘Start making Sense’ a Talking Heads cover band. they were excellent.. they had the music.. and the jerky delivery down perfectly.. It took me back to 1980 !

 

Today was really peaceful (with a brief rough spot in the middle as I tried to work down my email backlog.. yuck !)

 

Around 3 i decided to go in to meet my good friend Bret who was up visiting. He was taking his daughter Emily to the Vermont Comicon.   I had never been to one of these things.. but it proved to be really fun…

 

 

 

I didn’t know that there were so many geeks in vermont

 

more did i realize that I was one of them 🙂

nite all, nite sam

-me

Nice slow day at home.. We began with our ferret 4-ish mile hike from Bolton notch rode back to the house. Until a few months ago, this was the long trail.. now its just a spur. Someone even hiked the trail and repainted the old white blazes to blue to mark the trail as a spur.

it was a beautiful day to be out .. warm and dry… with a hint of fall coming..

 

we placed a few smartness along the way

 

then we had a pretty unpleasant surprise.. Chai managed to stick her nose into a hive of very angry ground bees.. they came swarming out and started stinging both the dogs and diane.. as they all ran away, the bees got in Diane’s  clothes.. she got stung 6 times..before she managed to get most of her clothes off and keep running  the dogs.. who knows..  i was at the back of the line and managed to avoid the first swarm.. as I detoured around

 

but then i went back for diagnose clothes and got stung twice myself.. OUCH !!!!

 

i

 

we ran for awhile.. then managed to slow down as our bodies processed the stings and the adrenaline..

 

wemade some mud at the first stream crossing and rubbed it on our aching bites..

 

as it dried, it eased the sting..

we hiked up to the now lonely lean to at duck brook for a short sit and some water. We could tell by the log book that fewer folk are visiting now that it’s no longer on the main trail..

 

we did see a smarten still there.. we always like to leave them in the long trail cabins when we visit

 

the hike back from there was slow and pretty.. allowing for the older doggies preferred pace.. gave us time to admire the first hints of fall looking over our valley (in winter you can see our house form here)

we came out on the power line at the other end.. here you can see the blue blazes over the original white

 

the power line clearing was full of wild apple trees.. a great snack after that adventure..

ok.. heading out for some music now.. more tomorrow.

nite all, nite sam

-me